Barry Ferguson

Barry Ferguson Order of the British Empire (born 2 February 1978) is a Scottish association football who plays as a midfielder for Blackpool F.C..

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Barry Ferguson biography

Barry Ferguson Order of the British Empire (born 2 February 1978) is a Scottish association football who plays as a midfielder for Blackpool F.C..

Ferguson has made 82 appearances in UEFA competitions, all for Rangers F.C., which makes Barry Ferguson the record European appearance holder at the club. Barry Ferguson was also inducted into the Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame. Ferguson overtook David Narey's record for the number of European appearances made whilst playing for a Scottish club, by starting in a UEFA Cup match against SV Werder Bremen. Barry Ferguson broke Kenny Dalglish's record for the number of competitive European appearances by a Scottish footballer when Barry Ferguson played in Barry Ferguson 80th match in Europe, against Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Ferguson made 45 appearances for the Scotland national football team. In 2009, following behavioral incidents while on Scotland duty, Barry Ferguson was stripped of the captaincy of Rangers and told Barry Ferguson would no longer be considered for international selection.

Ferguson was made a Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 17 June 2006.

Early life

Born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, When the club crashed out of the UEFA Champions League group stage at the hands of AS Monaco largely because of a mistake by captain Lorenzo Amoruso, Barry Ferguson was stripped of the captaincy and it instead went to the 22-year-old Ferguson. An incident in which two bags of ice were thrown at the Celtic dug-out during a 2–0 defeat at Ibrox Stadium in September 2001 was attributed to Ferguson, who was criticised for Barry Ferguson petulance and immaturity. Celtic manager Martin O'Neill played down the incident, saying Barry Ferguson thought the ice had been thrown by Barry Ferguson club's doctor. The young Ferguson would go on to successfully guide Barry Ferguson team to a 2002 Scottish League Cup Final and 2002 Scottish Cup Final later that season, under manager Alex McLeish who replaced Advocaat in December 2001.

During their second season together, Rangers F.C. season 2002-03, Ferguson captained the side to a Treble (association football) Domestic Treble. After scoring eighteen goals from midfield Barry Ferguson also won Scottish Football Writers' Association and Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year.

Move to Blackburn Rovers

On 29 August 2003, Ferguson joined Premier League club Blackburn Rovers F.C. for a fee of £7.5 million. With Everton F.C. also chasing Ferguson, Rangers had initially denied that Barry Ferguson was leaving. Barry Ferguson made Barry Ferguson Blackburn debut in a Premier League match against Liverpool F.C. on 19 September at Ewood Park, and scored Barry Ferguson first goal against the same team, also at Ewood Park, during a Football League Cup match on 29 October.

Graeme Souness made Ferguson captain of Blackburn in July 2004 and Barry Ferguson seemed to be adapting well to Premiership football, despite the team still struggling and a managerial change, which saw Mark Hughes replacing Souness. However, after just 16 months at the club, including a lengthy period out through injury after fracturing Barry Ferguson kneecap in a Premiership match against Newcastle United F.C., Ferguson submitted a written transfer request, admitting that the draw of playing in the Premiership and a Lancashire derby could not compare with an Old Firm match. After much discussion between the clubs, a fee of £4.5 million was agreed and Ferguson rejoined Rangers just before the close of the transfer window in January 2005. Ferguson would later reveal in Barry Ferguson book that the fee Rangers paid was actually £100,000 plus the fees Blackburn owed from the original transfer.

Return to Ibrox

Ferguson's second debut for Rangers came in a Scottish League Cup semi final victory over Dundee United F.C.. Barry Ferguson was a 69th-minute substitute for Alex Rae (footballer born 1969) during the 7–1 win. Barry Ferguson first goal after Barry Ferguson return was the opening goal in a 1–1 draw against Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. on 5 March 2005. Ferguson played in the 2005 Scottish League Cup Final and was part of the Rangers team that won the league on the last day of the season.

At the start of the 2005–06 season, manager Alex McLeish re-appointed Ferguson as club captain. McLeish had not wanted to remove the captaincy mid-season from previous holder Fernando Ricksen. Ferguson played the later part of the season carrying an ankle injury as Rangers limped into a poor third place finish in the Scottish Premier League. At the end of the season, Ferguson revealed that Barry Ferguson had snapped ligaments and confessed that Barry Ferguson should have undergone the surgery sooner.

On 1 January 2007 it was announced on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound programme that Ferguson had been stripped of the Rangers captaincy after a meeting with then manager Paul Le Guen. Barry Ferguson was also dropped from the squad for the next match. Later Le Guen claimed Ferguson was undermining him. The match at Motherwell was won 1–0 by Rangers, and goalscorer Kris Boyd reportedly showed solidarity with the deposed skipper by holding up 6 fingers: Ferguson's shirt number. Following the resignation of Le Guen as manager on 4 January, Ferguson was re-instated to the Rangers side by caretaker manager Ian Durrant and was also re-appointed as captain. Later that year, sports journalist Graham Spiers published Paul Le Guen: Enigma, documenting Barry Ferguson tenure at the club. According to Spiers, Le Guen left the club because Barry Ferguson was being "undermined" by other Rangers personnel, including Ferguson and then club doctor, Ian McGuinness.

The 2007-08 in Scottish football began well for Ferguson as Barry Ferguson scored a brace in the first Scottish Premier League match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.. Barry Ferguson scoring form continued and Barry Ferguson netted the second in a 3–0 win over rivals Celtic as well as in the UEFA Champions League against VfB Stuttgart. The Old Firm goal was Ferguson's first against Celtic since the Scottish Cup 2001-02 Final final where Barry Ferguson scored a free-kick in a 3–2 win for Rangers. In January 2008, Barry Ferguson scored a controversial goal in Rangers' Scottish League Cup 2007-08 semi-final defeat of Heart of Midlothian F.C.. Ferguson later admitted handling the ball in the build up to the goal but that the infringement was unintentional.

On 14 May 2008, Ferguson made Barry Ferguson 400th appearance for Rangers F.C. in the 2008 UEFA Cup Final against FC Zenit Saint Petersburg at the City of Manchester Stadium. Barry Ferguson captained the side to a 2–0 defeat.

The summer of 2008 saw Ferguson undergo an operation on a fresh injury problem that would see Barry Ferguson ruled out until early November. The injury was not the same one that plagued Barry Ferguson towards the end of the last season. Barry Ferguson returned to the first team on 1 November in a 5–0 league win over Inverness at Ibrox Stadium. After an extended drinking session with Rangers and Scotland team mate Allan McGregor after the Netherlands match which they lost 3–0 and along with making inappropriate gestures while on the bench during a Scotland match against Iceland, Barry Ferguson was stripped of the captain's arm band for both club and country. reported as "in the region of £1.2m". Joining up with boss Alex McLeish once again, the former Rangers supremo stated that Ferguson has "unfinished business in England" and that Barry Ferguson believed the former Scottish international is "very capable of competing with the best players in the Premier League." Barry Ferguson made Barry Ferguson debut in the opening game of the season, against Manchester United F.C. on 15 August 2009, and Barry Ferguson first goal for the club came as the only goal of the FA Cup third round replay against Nottingham Forest in January 2010. On Barry Ferguson first return to former club Blackburn Rovers, in March 2010, Ferguson was reported by the Daily Mirror to have sworn at Rovers' manager Sam Allardyce. Ferguson won the Birmingham City players' Player of the Year award for 2009–10. Ferguson helped Birmingham beat Arsenal in the 2011 Football League Cup Final at Wembley, despite playing the last hour of the game with a broken rib.

Blackpool

With Birmingham needing to reduce their wage bill following their relegation from the Premier League, Ferguson joined Championship club Blackpool on 22 July 2011 for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around £750,000. This enabled Barry Ferguson to move closer to Barry Ferguson family in Scotland, and Barry Ferguson signed a two-year deal, with the option of staying on for a further year. Barry Ferguson was given the captain (sports)'s armband for the club's opening League fixture at Hull City A.F.C. on 5 August.

Ferguson scored Barry Ferguson first goal for the Seasiders in a 2–0 victory over Ipswich Town F.C. at Bloomfield Road on 10 September. It was Barry Ferguson first goal in English league football for seven years.

International career

Ferguson made 12 appearances for Scotland national under-21 football team. Barry Ferguson made Barry Ferguson full international debut at the age of 20 against Lithuania national football team on 5 September 1998. However, an injury plagued season prevented Barry Ferguson from picking up more caps. Indeed, Ferguson did not return to the Scotland set up until a year later, starting in a 2–1 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina national football team on 4 September 1999.

Ferguson played alongside Craig Burley in both legs of Scotland's Euro 2000 play-off aggregate defeat to England national football team. Barry Ferguson was appointed captain of the national side in 2004 by then manager Berti Vogts following the retirement of Paul Lambert. Ferguson endured further play-off pain as Barry Ferguson captained Scotland to a 6–1 aggregate loss against the Netherlands national football team. Despite winning the first leg at Hampden Park 1–0, thanks to a James McFadden strike, a disastrous night in Amsterdam saw the side beaten 6–0 which ended the nation's hopes of going to Euro 2004.

Ferguson captained Scotland a total of 28 times. Barry Ferguson led the side to arguably one of the greatest results in the nation's modern footballing history when they beat former World Champions France national football team 1–0 at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 12 September 2007. This completed a double header of 1–0 wins against the French during the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

Ferguson has received criticism for being a disruptive influence on the team despite captaining Barry Ferguson country for years. On 3 April 2009, Barry Ferguson was banned from ever representing Scotland again after serious breaches of squad discipline On 6 July 2010, Scotland coach Craig Levein confirmed that Ferguson will not play for Scotland again. Levein had hoped Barry Ferguson would return but Ferguson informed Barry Ferguson that Barry Ferguson wanted to focus on club football instead.